Good tribute albums?

There are plenty of tribute albums out there, but what ones are actually worth listening to? One good one I remember liking was the Twisted Sister tribute Twisted Forever.

Metallic Assault (Metallica tribute)

The 2 disc tribute to the mighty Priest id really good. A lot of other legends like Fates Warning, Helloween, Saxoon, and Overkill doing justice and more to some of JP;s classics. Another great one is
Holy Dio-A Tribute to the Voice of Metal-Ronnie James Dio. Much like th JP tribute, it has a lot Metal legends just kicking ass.

I have a bunch of cheap ones that celebrate Def Leppard, VH, and Scorpions and are mostly done with the same group of musicians from 1980's Hair bands. They are pretty good and usually pretty inexpensive.

Holy Dio is one of my favorites. Get the 2 disc version if you can.
A Call To Irons is a great Iron Maiden tribute.

Thrasher73 wrote:

I was going to say that one. I never really got into tribute albums but that was one I had, along with the Kids My Ass tribute, which was awful.

No many I like, but 'Nativity In Black' which has been mentioned, 'Welcome to Your Nightmare: A Tribute to Alice Cooper'

I always thought "Sweet Family Music" a Stryper Tribute was pretty decent, if you like Punk and Alternative.  At the very least, it's creative.

Seconding the "Holy Dio," "Humanary Stew" and "Nativity in Black" recs. The 2 disc Judas Priest tribute that Century Media released in the mid 90s is good too.

The three biggest favourites of mine:

I also have a weakness for those low-budget, assembly line "tribute" albums performed by rotating casts of out-of-work hair metal dudes. Cleopatra Records was famous for them back in the early 00s, and another label whose name escapes me at the moment put out a fair share of 'em too. I own more of these CDs than is probably healthy, i.e.

Leppardmania: A Tribute to Def Leppard
Spacewalk: A Salute to Ace Frehley
Not the Same Old Song and Dance: A Tribute to Aerosmith
Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy
Covered Like A Hurricane: A Tribute to Scorpions
Thunderbolt: A Tribute to AC/DC
The '80s Metal Tribute to Van Halen

...though I usually avoided the dozens of "tribute" albums released by Dwell Records around the same time, though, because they were full of no-name death/black metal bands. (That said, our old pals Ultimatum contributed a track to at least one of those, if memory serves.)

bgsully wrote:

I always thought "Sweet Family Music" a Stryper Tribute was pretty decent, if you like Punk and Alternative.  At the very least, it's creative.

I’ve got that one. It has some good covers by Klank, Grammatrain and The Blamed.

Tribute albums are mostly bands doing crappy covers of a band far better than them.

The exception being the two Brown Sabbath albums that rock!

I have this one-really good.



Also this one:

I've also seen ones in wal-mart recently that are listed as "The Many Faces of ". I've seen ones for Crue (which I have), Queen, and Metallica.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I also have a weakness for those low-budget, assembly line "tribute" albums performed by rotating casts of out-of-work hair metal dudes. Cleopatra Records was famous for them back in the early 00s, and another label whose name escapes me at the moment put out a fair share of 'em too. I own more of these CDs than is probably healthy, i.e.

Leppardmania: A Tribute to Def Leppard
Spacewalk: A Salute to Ace Frehley
Not the Same Old Song and Dance: A Tribute to Aerosmith
Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy
Covered Like A Hurricane: A Tribute to Scorpions
Thunderbolt: A Tribute to AC/DC
The '80s Metal Tribute to Van Halen

...though I usually avoided the dozens of "tribute" albums released by Dwell Records around the same time, though, because they were full of no-name death/black metal bands. (That said, our old pals Ultimatum contributed a track to at least one of those, if memory serves.)

I'm the same way. Usually found in the used bins, the cost is most often so low that it doesn't feel like you've lost much even if the whole thing sucks. More often than not, though, there are a few gems mixed in.

Solarisis doing a melodic death metal version of "Nothing Else Matters" on Overload: A Tribute To Metallica, Volume 2, for instance. Such a badass cover!

Here are some great prog tributes that weren't mentioned:

Moon Revisited, The - Another Perspective On The Dark Side Of The Moon - A Tribute To Pink Floyd



To Cry You A Song - A Collection Of Tull Tales



Tales From Yesterday - A View From The South - A Tribute To Yes



Though I only own these three, the overall quality is much higher than your standard tribute album. Some really cool interpretations, too.

If you dig Dead Can Dance, The Lotus Eaters is a pretty great two-disc tribute. Lots of really cool covers on that one.



Rebellion: A Tribute To Queensryche is solid, one of the best Dwell Records ever put out. Some fairly unique takes on some of those songs, though the production quality on a few is poop. Ion Vein's cover of "Take Hold of the Flame" is fucking outstanding, though.



Okay, I'll shut up now...

Hadley wrote:

I've also seen ones in wal-mart recently that are listed as "The Many Faces of <insert band here>". I've seen ones for Crue (which I have), Queen, and Metallica.

I have also seen ones for Guns, Maiden and Bon Jovi. They are pretty cheap for 3 CD sets, but I can't seem to find much to like on them as they just seem so...odd...is the only word I can think of to describe them.